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for it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace and the conditions for sustainable development must be built. ~UNESCO

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

On Corporal Punishment...a teacher’s view

Debates exist between educators, students, parents, and
policy makers on the inclusion or exclusion of corporal punishment. Is suing a
teacher the solution? Should we spare the cane? Should we remain with our eyes
shut and ears closed? What alternative is there to shape the future of our
nation?

Corporal punishment is the use of force todiscipline
students or,inreality,
hitting a child. Research shows that corporal punishment negatively affects the
child in many ways. It demoralizes students and many suffer mental pain in
addition to physical pain. Some say it is ‘rustic’ way of disciplining a child.

Bhutan learned of the effects of corporal punishment and subsequently
banned it, through its GNH policies, in Bhutanese schools.

I am a teacher and yet, I have a limited knowledge on this topic. To my
knowledge, there is feedback, reinforcement, punishment, reward, and remedy. My
framework for this topic will focus on positive reinforcement and punishment.

Positive
reinforcement means strengthening, an action that amplifies the frequency of a
desired behavior.

Punishment, on the other hand, is an attempt to decrease the occurrences of
an undesirable behavior. It is the use of an aversive event or action, subject
upon the occurrence of the unsuitable behavior.

We can study the following incidents and consider the difference between
positive reinforcement and punishment.

Class 1:

In a particular class, a teacher says, “Well done. I’m really proud of your
behavior”. The student works harder and behaves.

Class 2:

A teacher makes a child stand up for 2 minutes for talking in the class.
The particular student’s talking decreases.

As per my understanding, the praise
in the first incident strengthened the child’s desired behavior. I can call
this positive reinforcement. In the second incident, standing up stopped the child from doing something undesirable
again. I prefer to tag this as a punishment.

Positive reinforcement has great impacts on the minds of our developing
students as does punishment have. This is where corporal punishment comes to
mind. It is used as a form of punishment in many countries but is quickly
losing its popularity in this modern world. Bhutan is no exception.

We must clearly understand the intention and context of punishment. If you
fail to do this, the punishment will not produce the desired outcome. In most
cases, students receive punishment when they breach school rules or exhibit undesired
and inappropriate behavior. As concerned educators, we must be able to
understand the consequences that arise with punishment, especially the ones
that we are responsible for. We intend to bring out better behaviors from
students by deploying punishment. Students must be told the reason for the
punishment and simultaneously let them understand what unacceptable behavior is
exhibited. A portion of this understanding should come from the allocated
punishment. How does this punishment serve the student to learn from the
mistake? Corporal punishment may be a good way of reaching an immediate outcome
but its long term affects have more damaging results.

If I may outline just a few outcomes: Fear is inflicted on the
impressionable minds of students and a student may begin to associate fear with
education, thereby detrimentally affecting the student’s development. In
addition, one responsibility of a teacher is to set a good example.
Students learn through example. As a result, students may mimic this action.

Considering the negative impacts, Bhutan has done a great thing by banning
corporal punishment. We must have better ways of dealing with problems. Counselling can be a good alternative. Civilised forms of punishment can
also be a good replacement for corporal punishment.But again, like
anything under the sun, there are two sides. A portion of educators, students, parents,
and policy makers believe that corporal punishment should be present in
Bhutanese schools. They strongly believe in- Spare the cane, spoil the child. Some parents request (personally)
to enforce corporal punishment on their kids. This group believes that a child
can be disciplined only by corporal punishment and often, this is the
discipline practice in the home (this is true for most Bhutanese households as
well). I experienced it is true to few students that I came across. Some
say that it was too early for Bhutan to ban corporal punishment. They justify
their argument by stating that, punishment, exclusive of corporal punishment
can be successful only in developed countries. They note that Bhutan is still
developing and students in Bhutan will not be able to understand the modern way
of punishment. I both agree and disagree with this last belief. They are
right because sometimes I think like them. Children in Bhutan are usually not
brought up through counseling (not generalized). Therefore, they will not
really understand when they grow up and when they are disciplined through
positive punishment. Moreover, when I consider the impact (unpleasant) of
corporal punishment in the lives of our future nation builders, they are wrong.
A student shivers when he is made to answer in the class if that particular
teacher has caned him/her before. Even when the student has the answer, he/she will
not be able to answer. Learning experience would be bitterly affected if this
kind of situation occurs in the class rooms of the country.

As an educator, I would prefer not using corporal punishment.
While I agree with those who banned corporal punishment, I may still use
corporal punishment when I have exhausted all other forms of punishment and
still there is no change. Managing human beings can be the most difficult task.
Parents and the society should understand this and support the system in concern.
It would not be a solution to drag a teacher to court for using corporal
punishment. Context must be taken into account. The scenario now is that,
a teacher canes a child for some reason of misbehavior; the parents blow up the
issue and news spreads (Bhutan has many papers). The court is involved so is
the concerned offices and the particular teacher becomes the big bad picture.
The teacher is demoralized; the classes are empty because the teacher needs to
attend court procedures. The teacher curses himself and thinks many thoughts.
The teacher decides to resign or stop disciplining students can be some
decisions from the hundreds. Obviously, the parents are satisfied. In addition,
in some other contexts, few teachers resort to corporal punishment before
trying out other positive types of punishment. It would be wise of a teacher to
practice positive punishment which is safe to the child and also to the
teacher. This can be a solution. Should there be a better alternative? This
question is not set against my stand on the fine ban of corporal punishment but
concerned people should study the contexts before jumping into the conclusion.
Teachers are of different kind like all human being. This is a concern from a
teacher. If teachers are dragged to court at this rate, it will further
discourage new professionals, and educated ones from joining the teaching
profession. Students can do their bit by following rules and becoming sincere
students. It is actually a very simple thing students can do. As teachers, we
carry a huge responsibility of shaping lives. We should and can do what is best
for the lives of our students. Think twice before raising the cane…

4 comments:

i strongly believe in non-corporal....like in the sunshine, a better melts, the child can become good but how about those who are like a clay? Who can help them not turning into a solid earth? In a way, it kind of makes other go worse from bad, of course few can also become good...like you mentioned, its time we approach things with a new glass....i am sure, there are millions and millions of ways to educated the children...

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About Me

A humble self acclaimed Peace and Sustainability ambassador, a nature enthusiast, teacher, father, husband, brother, friend...living to the fullest and sharing what (little) he knows and can. Sonam is a teacher in Bhutan and is currently studying Education Studies at University of Canberra, Australia. Sonam loves nature, photography and strives to be a responsible member of the society.